March 9 - Cadboro Bay (#17)

I picked up a Whitehall rowing Oarboard to go with my SUP and decided to give it a spin this afternoon. Though not sea kayaking, I have decided to include SUP mileage in my blog this year... So here goes! I assembled the system  and then strapped it on to my ATX board. It was a very solid fit. My neighbour Dan helped me walk it down to the beach as it is a bit more awkward than the board alone. To my pleasant surprise, I remembered how to scull and was making my way across the bay in short order. I don't think I was keeping the pace I would in one of my Tahe's, but it was getting close at times. I think with some improvement in skill on my part, I can see that this will be a very fun full body workout in the bay. The SUP board is nice and stable in the sculling configuration and much faster than when being paddled. This is going to be fun!

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4 km, YTD 188 km

March 8th - Discovery and Oak Bay (#16)

Dan, Paulo and I went for a morning paddle around Discovery and back over to Oak Bay via the Chain Islets. Lots of birds including at least 10 eagles on Discovery/Chatham, two groups of pintails. The wind and the rain started as we were heading back. I stopped in the mooring area of caddy bay to pick up some sea lettuce for a school lab next week! I also got my 100 weight fleece comfort paddling hoodie with pocket from Paulo, and it was perfect for the paddle under my Tuilik!

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17 km, YTD 184 km

March 4th - Discovery (#15)

Dan and I went for an afternoon paddle around Discovery. There was a brisk northerly wind and a bit of current. I was able to catch a few waves near Heritage Point. I found a couple of crab trap floats near seabird point on Discovery. There was a pretty stiff head wind for the way back across Baynes which slowed our progress somewhat! Great to get out for a few hours in the middle of a stretch of long work days!

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15 km, YTD 167 km

Feb 28th - Discovery (#14)

Dan and I went for an afternoon paddle after work. Conditions were pretty decent, with a steady north wind. The ride out and down was easy, but the wind picked up to 15+ knots on the way back which made for hard work crossing over from Chatham. As we were making our way back into Cadboro Bay, we saw a deer swimming with a dog chasing after it. The dog turned back after it saw us and then we shepherded the deer back to shore were it stood for a while shivering. eventually it was able to wander off into the ten mile point properties...

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16 km, YTD 152 km